Curtis Hall ventured into the hallway of his Northwest Side apartment complex after hearing a
flurry of gunshots early yesterday evening.

“I thought there was someone in the hallway I could help. I really didn’t think about me getting
shot at the time,” said Hall, 24. His cousin, Austin Hall, 22, went along with him.

They were both surprised to see the hall at the Sawmill Crossing Apartments filled with
gunsmoke. There were bullets holes in one apartment door and others across the hall.

Austin Hall said he put his ear to the door with the bullet holes and could hear people inside.
The two cousins decided to back away.

Columbus police soon arrived to knock down the door at Apt. 217, 2550 Farrel Dr., and found two
men dying on the floor. Both were pronounced dead there shortly before 5:30 p.m., about a half-hour
after police were called.

Police early today identfied one of the two victims as Lentwan M. Smith, 20, whose last-known
address was on the North Side. Sgt. Christ Holzhauser, supervisor of the homicide squad, said the
men who died did not live at the apartment complex, which is near the intersection of Sawmill and
Dublin-Granville roads.

Two young men were taken into custody and questioned last night. Holzhauser said the two said
they acted in self-defense during a robbery, and the pair said they exchanged gunfire with the two
men who were killed.

Police also were looking for a third man who left in a blue car moments after the shooting.
Police said they believe the incident is drug-related.

Curtis Hall said that when police officers went into the apartment, he heard them say there were
a number of guns on the floor. He recalled hearing about 10 shots.

Tabitha Clay, his girlfriend, said she heard more shots than that.

“You could hear different caliber guns. And you could hear it echoing and echoing,” said Clay,
who called 911.

Clay, 22, has a 3-year-old and said that one of her neighbors has children who had just come
home from school before the shooting.

“People could have been harmed,” she said. “I don’t feel safe here anymore.”

Relatives and friends of the two who died gathered outside police tape tonight. One woman, after
talking with a detective, crumpled to the ground, repeatedly crying, “Lord have mercy.”